Twickenham IV

12

29

Spartans (2XV)

Match Report

On Saturday last, Spartans made the short voyage to Hampton to take on Twickenham RFC. With a strong brisk breeze blowing against them they knew the first half would be tough.

The first five minutes were scrappy, both teams were adjusting to the wind. The full force of the breeze was seen when full back Sean (Shawknee) Madigan kicked the ball from his own 22 and in mid-air did a complete U-turn and landed closer to his own five meter line.

The game sparked to life at the 10 minute mark when Thamesian’s second row, Michal broke through the Twickenham defence and off loaded the potato to Dominic, who showed strength by breaking two tackles and touching the ball down near Twickenham’s posts. This try was followed by another individual try by inside centre Callum, who evaded opposition tackles before sprinting 40m to finish under the posts. Scrum half, Hamblin successfully converted to leave the score 12-0.

Straight from the kick-off Thamesians were nearly in again. Captain Newe, slithered through enemy lines but was stopped short 10 meters out. In a half which consisted of a lot of ball carrying, the more skilful Spartans made most of the break through runs and dominated possession with Billy “The Kid” at fly half pulling the strings in the back line while the forwards were winning scrummage and line out battles. However, Twickenham RFC didn’t lie down and on the stroke of half time they intercepted a Spartans pass and slid in to put a converted try between the sides at the half time whistle.

Spartans were forced to make a change at half time, when winger, Jacko, had to be replaced due to a knee injury sustained at the start of the match. Second row Hugo, moved to the wing and Gav Lock introduced to second row.

With the wind at their backs in the second half, Spartans had the luxury of kicking the ball more, pinning Twickenham in their own half. It wasn’t long before they added another try to the score board, when a great controlled team effort saw Kieffer cross the white wash. Ten minutes later Twickenham added another try to keep pressure on us. The score now stood at 17-10 in favour of Spartans. The second half saw some good fluent moves by the away side, constantly breaking through the opposition’s defensive line but finding it hard to finish in the final third. Then at the 60 minute mark, full back S. Madigan spotted a gap in the Twickenham line and broke through before off-loading to Hugo who finished the move with a try in the far right corner.

In the final twenty minutes, we continued to dominate the scrums and the line outs, and this paid dividend when they turned over a Twickenham scrum, and immediately turned defence into attack, in a matter of seconds they were five meters from the Twickenham try line. Quick thinking from fly half Billy set Dominic in for his second try of the game which the capped off a great day for the Spartans. The referee who had a decent game blew the full time whistle with the final score, Twickenham RFC 10 – 28 Spartans.

Great team effort was evident from the get go, every player giving 100%, especially in the first half against an unforgiven breeze. Spartans are currently in second place with their next game on Saturday, 5th of December.